Recently, I have started on a trial of the new TAVIE app. Below are details of the app from an interview with Claire Kamoun, Director of Patient Engagement for TAVIE.

What do you hope to accomplish with this new app?

This innovative mobile application is intended to be a journey companion for people living with HIV. The app is designed to increase patients’ engagement with their care journey and adherence to their medication. Through interactive individualized coaching, the goals of TAVIE-HIV is to enhance empowerment and skill development to help users become more self-efficient in dealing with the daily situations tied with living with their condition and medications.

Besides HIV what other illnesses does Tavie assist with?

TAVIE is the first clinically validated Virtual Nurse and is based on over 8 years of research and clinically validation by the Montreal teaching Hospital chair on new Nursing practices. TAVIE-HIV was the first off a portfolio of application designed to support patient living health health conditions. Other portfolio items include Cardiology, Transplant, Post-operative pain, Type 2 Diabetes, Lymphedema, and Lifestyle coaching for disease prevention. More indications are currently being developed and undergoing evaluation.

Describe how Tavie works?

TAVIE is a multimodal interactive and personalized coaching application. At the heart of every TAVIE is the Virtual Coach that guides patients through an individualized and interactive educational process to improve their skills set, motivation engagement. In addition, TAVIE features a range of complementary features that together participate into profiling users, offering them reminders, motivational coaching and reinforcement specific to their own experience using trackers, risk detection self-evaluation, self-declared symptoms diary. Lastly TAVIE includes a section with daily ressources such as an interactive Virtual Library, instant contacts to ask for help and soon an interactive map to locate ressources in their environment.

Why an app?

The prevalent use of smartphone is allowing a new level of support to patient where they get education, motivation and connection to their care journey right at their finger tips. That opportunity was made clear during a first real life deployment where patients acclaimed ease of use and accessibility as important part of support initiatives.

With the use of mobile phones we are able to further increase the level of support to users by using the phone native features such as phone call, geolocation, pictures. Lastly by being able to access TAVIE when ever and where ever most convenient for them, we are able to offer patient more privacy.

What has been involved with your trials so far?

Since 2008 TAVIE has been the subject of over 15 publications from proof of concept to qualitative studies and randomized controlled trials, looking at the sustainable impact on patient health behavior of TAVIE compared to standard of care.

TAVIE is a solution that can answer the need of HIV population in different countries.By tailoring the coaching content to the different cultural, ethnic, language and literacy needs of the populations, TAVIE is easily adaptable to different population.

TAVIE was already deployed in 2016 in three European countries to support patient with type 2 diabetes and further deployment are planned in Europe for 2017

What sets Tavie apart from previous companies trying to remind you to take your meds. i.e. why not just set an alarm?

TAVIE is a full interactive solution to sustainably improve patient skills, health behavior and overall experience. Although it includes smart reminders, which have only shown short term efficacy, TAVIE goes beyond. It targets and individual understanding of the underlying barriers of behavior change and offers interactive technology to support patients to overcome these barriers. TAVIE is a unique solution that is at the crossroads of scientific research, clinical validation and innovative technology.

Moreover the TAVIE Platform also includes an integrated solution for Physician remote monitoring, "TAVIE-Pro" and application for caregiver and family members, "TAVIE-Care".